Sunday, 25 August 2013

An exciting day!

This morning we landed
on Kinnvika, a place on 80° N with a lot of research history! The Swedes and
the Finns built up this large research facility for the International
Geophysical Year 1957-1958. We explored some of the houses and were impressed,
how well everything is still in shape where the researchers carried out their
science projects in meteorology, Northern Lights, earth magnetism and more!

Some
of us went up the hill and had a great view over the tundra. Back on MV Fram we
sailed on Hinlopen Strait and visited on our way Alkefjellet, an over 100m high
imposing dolerite cliff with hundreds of birds. Some Brunnich’s Guillemots were
still around, but mostly Kittiwakes were flying in and out of the nests with a
“Million Dollar view”.

In the afternoon Tom held a lecture about the lord of the
Arctic – the Polar Bear and got rid of many myths about this majestic animal,
while Frieda was telling us about the seabirds flying around on Svalbard. The
evening landing was on Torellneset where we first spotted a skeleton of a
walrus. It was obvious that a polar bear had fed on it, as there were only
bones and skin left but most of all, we had some polar bear footprints around
the “corpus delicti”! Luckily we met also some “alive” walruses, lying on the
beach and digesting. Some of them decided to take a bath and one was even
swimming quite closely towards us! But all at a sudden, Manuel spread the word
– “Polar Bear in sight”! Far away there was a yellow dot on the tundra – was
it the polar bear who fed on the walrus? No one knows, so we kept on watching
the walruses, before it was time to head back to the Polar Cirkel boats. What
an exciting day!

MV FRAM is the most modern expedition cruise vessel belonging to the Hurtigrutenfleet, roaming polar waters and taking people to remote places where only few go. In order to give you the chance to travel with us, even if only on your computer screen, we have created this blog. Here you can see what we have seen and read what we have done.

MV FRAM's voyage is followed by

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The expedition team consists of lecturers and guides from various fields and backgrounds such as ornithology, mammalogy, history, and geology, ready to tackle all your questions. Together with the fabulous Fram officers and crew we make your time on board REALLY worthwhile!